Namco feels that game prices are too high

Namco Bandai feels that games have become too expensive, and its vice president believes that companies need to come up with a secondary business model that satisfies both the consumer and the publisher.

Speaking to MCV at the firm’s showcase in Barcelona last week, Olivier Comte said that publishers need to also try to get licensing costs down to pass the saving onto retail.

“I am convinced that in the future we must change the price of video games – they’re too expensive for the audience,” he said. “With the cost of development and the retail margins, £40 is a fair price [to us], but for the consumer it is too much.

“From September to December there are three new blockbusters every week, and consumers just can’t afford to buy all that.

“A good price of a game should be around £20 – but for this price we can’t make a ten to 15-hour adventure. So for £20 we should offer consumers four to five hours of gameplay, then after that we can make additional money with DLC.

“I feel all the big video game companies need to join together in a worldwide summit to discuss the future of our industry. I think we have to pull our thoughts together.

“Games just have one model, the sale of the product either as a box or a digital download. So we need to think about how we can develop a secondary business model.”

Comte also said that DLC was another way that to bring down the price of games, while still being “attractive to consumers”.